


"how to tell if your employees are afraid of you" and several other FAQs from formerly villainous CFOs

by daskey



Series: Sam Arias Week 2020 [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, national city vs metropolis L corp who will win, obviously it's nc for the win babes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-22 15:00:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22784803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daskey/pseuds/daskey
Summary: Sam is back in National City, but she doesn't exactly get the warm welcome she was hoping for at first.Day 2: L Corp
Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Arias/Lena Luthor
Series: Sam Arias Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637104
Comments: 6
Kudos: 140





	"how to tell if your employees are afraid of you" and several other FAQs from formerly villainous CFOs

There's a familiarity that hits her as she swipes her palm against the security gate and sees blue text cheerfully declaring 'Good Morning  _ Samantha Arias'  _ levitate in mid air in front of her hand. 

L-Corp Metropolis is all steel and concrete and dark greys, squared-off edges and windows that are forever streaked with water. Being back in National City is like a working vacation, her eyes delight in the clean and clear entryways, the sun shining through glass against white marble floors, the gentle curves that guide her to the elevators. 

It's like Lena had wanted it to be different in as many ways as possible. To really distance herself from Luthorcorp and Lex's influence. There's no other way to describe the difference between the buildings, it really is like night and day. 

She takes in a deep breath. No more of that perpetual dampness that seems to seep through right into her bones. It brings a smile to her face as she approaches a waiting elevator and-

There's a sudden flash of recognition in the eyes of the lone occupant of the elevator. She makes eye contact with him, he's young and she's seen him before - in R&D? She's sure he also has a cat he likes to brag about. 

She goes to start a conversation but before she can make her way forward he scrambles to the buttons, desperately jamming a finger at the door close button. Sam's brow furrows, and she staggers to a halt as the doors slowly close on the wide-eyed, pale-faced former intern as the doors close at a glacial pace. 

_ Okay?  _

Sam tilts her head to the side at the closing of the doors, and glances around to see if anyone else witnessed what just happened. He's probably a little nervous, she figures. It's not all common to see an executive taking the regular elevators anyways. 

She knows Lena has her own executive elevator, but she'd wanted to avoid using that since she's here early and she'd wanted to meander around the office a little bit, take the stairs up and catch up with people while she has the time. 

She takes the executive elevator. 

-

The doors open and the first thing she notices is Jess, busy on the phone. The soft chime of the elevator calls her attention, and she looks at her absently at first. 

Before the exact same expression of shock and horror flashes on her face before she hastily schools her expression, fumbling her phone as she hangs up. 

Sam has never seen Jess flinch. At  _ anything _ . 

"Sh- Ms Arias! You're early!" Her smile is a little forced, and Sam feels that awkwardness crawl up her spine again as she tries to make sure her smile doesn't look as uncertain as she feels. 

"I'm early!" she tries to laugh it off, but Jess glances from side to side. "Oh not you too." 

That brings Jess pause. "I'm sorry ma'am?" 

"You're acting weird," Sam pinches the bridge of her nose. "And don't call me ma'am, you know it makes me feel old." 

Jess still doesn't make eye contact with her. She looks a little over her shoulder, and Sam starts to get the sneaking suspicion that this isn't about to be the last time this happens. 

It isn't. 

The admin staff scatter like seagulls when she goes to ask about a change of address. The IT guys suddenly have to go and fix monitors on the other side of the building when she goes to ask them if they'd heard of the new game Ruby's started playing. 

Everyone is avoiding her.  _ Everyone _ . As soon as they see her round the corner they evacuate like she's toxic. Like she's- 

_ dangerous?  _

Like she's something to be  _ afraid  _ of. 

Lena doesn't notice her when she walks into her office at first. She wanders in with a folder in one hand, a coffee cup in the other. There's a little falter in her step when she gets to the desk though, and catches a glimpse of her on the couch in her periphery. 

Lying on her back. Obviously not moping or sulking or anything like that. She's just- 

"Why are you napping on my couch? It's ten in the morning," Lena's voice is light and teasing but there's genuine concern there. 

"I'm not napping." Sam grumbles, turning around to face the back of the sofa. She's suddenly not motivated to tell Lena about her terrible, no good morning. 

"Could have fooled me." There's a dip in the sofa as Lena sits down beside her. Then a gentle hand on her back, smoothing her shirt down. "Have you checked your emails this morning?" 

That's odd. There's a pointed pause, Lena's hand resting on her lower back. Lena grumbles when Sam turns back around, digging in her pockets to find her phone and open up her emails. 

It's from Jess. A meeting, scheduled at eleven. She doesn't know why she bothered. It's  _ clear _ , they're avoiding her because she literally killed people. 

Or, well. Her kryptonian alter ego did. The one that she didn't know about. But it was still in her body so technically... it was her. Reign did wear her face. 

God, she's probably traumatised them all by showing up so early without any warning-

"Are you really that worried about the staff avoiding you?" 

"I thought I'd get a warmer welcome." 

"They just weren't expecting you back so soon!" 

"Was I really that bad of a boss?" Sam's voice cracks, and she tries to recover but it's all threatening to spill over. "Or was it that I killed people?" 

"Honey," Lena says, and that clues Sam into the fact that Lena isn't taking her seriously. Because  _ darling  _ is for most times but  _ honey  _ is reserved for the stupid Sam that thinks silly things. "You're overthinking-" 

Sam closes her eyes and sucks in a breath through her teeth. It doesn't help. Sitting up does, but only marginally. She needs to get out before things get worse. "I know. I know I am. I'll see you at the meeting. I need to unpack my things." 

-

The hallways are clear. Almost like they knew she was coming and evacuated in advance this time. She almost-  _ almost _ \- wishes she was back at Metropolis, where she'd at least get people passing her by in the hallways with a polite smile and a nod.

_ Probably because Reign isn't the worst villain they've ever known- _

Being lost in her thoughts she doesn't hear Lena's heels closing up on her till she's right behind her and sliding an arm around her waist, tugging her close with a surprisingly firm grip. It's a familiar touch, one that Sam is well acquainted with. It'll probably be how they march into hell together when they die. They've entered meetings with much scarier people than a bunch of gossipy staff members. 

"Calm down," Lena murmurs, and angles herself to reach for the door to the main conference room, "This isn't an execution, it's a general meeting." 

The first thing that Sam realises when she walks in is that  _ Lena lied to her.  _

This isn't a general meeting. The fact that it isn't confuses Sam to no end, because it had said in the email it was but everyone's staring at her and smiling and wearing conical shaped hats? 

Then there's glitter, and confetti which should not be allowed in the office because how are they meant to get it out of the carpets- it billows out in a sudden burst of colour along with a cacophony of sounds, and as Sam blinks out the colours and tries to focus through the sounds a banner unfurls and - 

_ Welcome back Sam! _

_ - _

Once the initial shock wears off, Sam can actually laugh at how ridiculous she was and start actually enjoying what the employees of L-Corp National City have prepared for her. 

There are cupcakes and brownies and all sorts of slices. Miniature pies and cookies and cake pops and whole cakes with different fillings and it's all homemade, little labels placed by each one like at a bake sale. 

There are savoury things too, from different corners of the world. She takes a moment to ask everyone she can about what they've made and she's amazed at how much she can actually  _ eat _ . 

Must be that Kryptonian stomach that Lena was talking about. She'd thought she'd been exaggerating when she said Kara could eat her own body weight in one sitting. She thinks she's getting close to that right now. 

"You take care of us all the time," Jess says in a speech, with the widest smile that makes Sam's heart fill to bursting with all sorts of emotions. "And you bake for us all the time, so we thought we should welcome you back with some of  _ our  _ cooking." 

"Don't worry," Lena adds, holding up her hands. "I had no part in any of the cooking." 

That gets a laugh around the whole office. 

It's a good day to be back in National City. 

  
  



End file.
